


You Lead

by shadyglasses



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Ballroom Dancing, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Fluff, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Fluff, M/M, Mild Language, Mutual Pining, No langst, Only Happiness and Love for my boy, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Romance, Waltzing, blue paladin lance, dance, flustered keith, i dont really know how to dance just sayin, klance, red paladin keith, surprise lance and keith are gonna have to dance with each other!, theyre both just lovesick fools
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-13 05:23:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13563768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadyglasses/pseuds/shadyglasses
Summary: In concept the tradition was simple. Every time the band started playing the nations anthem, everyone in attendance of the ball was supposed to waltz with a partner until the song ended. Whether you are a foreign diplomat, a royal dignitary, or common planet-goer, everyone was expected to find a partner as fast as possible and dance. It became a sort of horrible game where you grab the closest person or alien to you and waltz until the music stops.





	You Lead

**Author's Note:**

> This is what happens when I rewatch the yule ball dance scene from Harry Potter. Feel free to use that dance/song as reference, or something entirely different, its all up to yall

 

 

In a way it made sense. It may seem like just a more stressful version of musical chairs, but the nations tradition is significantly less extreme than some of the others they have visited. The idea of a partner dance is supposed to showcase the cultural importance of teamwork and unity, which is why everyone is expected to dance no matter the difference in skill level. Thankfully though, Allura did make the team attend mandatory step classes prior to the event so all the of the paladins had at least a rough idea of how to perform the planets cultural dance. Some being much more skilled than the others.

 

Lance considers himself to fall under the ‘more skilled than others’ category.

 

Though Lance has also been avoiding Shiro all night, for two reasons. The first being that he is absolutely not, under any circumstances, going to dance with his childhood hero and team leader. He may be a brilliant dancer, but he tends to make mistakes under pressure. His mother may have raised her son to be confident of his skills, but if he messes up and steps on Shiro’s toes, he might never live it down.

 

The second reason, is princesses. Lots and lots of pretty princesses, and equally beautiful royal attendants.

 

Since arriving on this planet Allura has been encouraging all of the paladins to mingle and start making diplomatic ties with the other nations invited to the ball. And since making political ties involved getting to woo a bunch of giggling royal ladies, he’s all for it. Talking to people is something he does naturally, politics seem to be his thing.

 

Keith however? He does not like making political ties, nor does he like to dance.

 

He does not enjoy flashing fake smiles and struggling to try and figure out how he’s supposed to answer such probing questions. It only adds to the pressure that at seemingly random intervals of the night he is getting dragged onto the dance floor by strangers. It only adds to his frustration that he can see Lance across the ballroom, surrounded by a gaggle of enthralled party goers, appearing to be having the time of his life. If Keith is being honest with himself, he’s a little jealous. While he’s over here limping his way through conversations about the coalition stance on a cultural phenomenon he’s never heard of and struggling his way through waltz after waltz with a particularly handsy royal adviser, Lance is over there smooth talking the collation into new alliances, and himself into the after party. It’s not fair that he seems to be cursed with the inherent predisposition to fuck these sort of social situations up, so he’s allowed to be a little miffed about it.

 

Ordinarily he would just attach himself to Shiro’s side, but as the team leader he is busy interacting with important looking officials along with Allura and Coran. Even if Keith wasn’t too socially awkward to be able to hold a conversation with these higher classed looking aliens, they seem to also be much more skilled at dancing than he could hope to keep up with. Political status and dancing ability seemed to go hand in hand on this planet, and Keith lacked both skills. Figures.

 

After another round of dodging flirtatious questions from the overly intoxicated advisor he manages to pry himself away from they’re roaming hands to excuse himself to the refreshments table. He ladles himself a cup of a dark liquid, taking a large mouthful in the hopes that it might be some form of an alcoholic beverage. He swishes the drink around in his mouth. He honestly cannot tell. It might not actually even be safe for him to consume from all he knows.

 

He swiftly spits it back into his cup as secretly as he can when someone bumps into him from behind, nearly sending him falling face first into the punch bowl. He turns around in a mild panic, a frantic apology already beginning to form on his lips when he’s interrupted.

 

“Jeez Louise! Watch where you're going Mullet.”

 

“You watch where _you're_ going Lance.” Keith grunts crossing his arms over his chest. Lance scoffs in mock offence, cocking his hip outwards as he places two cups on the table beside them.

 

“Excuse you, but I have important business to be attending too. I’m refilling the Baudrovian princesses punch glasses! What are you doing?”

 

Now it was Keith's turn to scoff. Keith rolls his eyes at him as Lance fills one of the glasses with an uncalled for amount of dramatic flair.

 

“Whatever. None of your business.” He replied shortly, tugging at his collar. God how he hated the fancy royal garb Allura insists they dress in for these sort of events. He much prefers his paladin armour to the flashy red ensemble that Shiro had literally forced him into prior that evening.

 

Lance’s eyes travel down to his neck, and he gets a funny look on his face as he purses his lips. He looks like he’s about to say something before the first note of a now familiar tune rings through the dance hall, and another spark of panic shoots up Keith's spine.

 

Lance all but drops the punch filled glass in his hand in a scramble to grab Keith’s wrist before dragging him towards him, setting him off balance and falling into his arms as Lance pulls them over to the dance floor. Lance ignores his squawk of protest and places Keith’s hand onto position on his shoulder. Before Keith has a chance to collect himself, let alone even begin to match his feet to the beat, he is being led into an outward spin that nearly sends him crashing into another dancer.

 

Lance actually has the audacity to smirk at his red faced rage, and Keith steps purposefully on his foot as he’s lead back into the step pattern. Lance winces as Keith glues his eyes to his feet, carefully willing himself not to mess this up.

 

“Keith-”

 

“Shut up!” He spits at Lance, furrowing his eyebrows in concentration. Is it 1, 2, then 3 or is it 1 then 2 then 3? Where on earth is the rest of the numbers after that?

 

“Relax.” Lance tries again, nervously glancing over his shoulder. Keith drags his eyes up from his feet, following Lance’s gaze. The King’s gaze followed them from where he danced with his wife. It was common on this planet to have your partnerships and personality judged based on the way that you dance. Right now the only thing he and Lance where showing him was that they would probably make shitty allies who couldn’t even work together within their own team.

 

“Shitshitshit.” Keith hisses under his his breath, looking back to Lance as anxiety crawled up his throat.

 

“Right right, okay- Come here.” Lance replies, swiftly stopping them in the middle of the ballroom. He grabs Keith’s hand from his shoulder, placing it hastily on his waist, and wrapping his own hand over Keith shoulder. Keith stared dumbly at his land on Lance’s waist, wishing he could sink into the floor. His hand was on Lances _waist._ God help him.

 

“You lead.” Lance insists with a shove.

 

“You’re taller than me!”

 

“By one single inch! You literally cannot follow and that doesn’t matter now, so just go already!”

 

Snapping back into reality Keith steps forwards, easing back in time with the music and pulling Lance along with him.

 

Admittedly it did go better after the switch. With Keith's burning face and sweaty palms, he was putting way too much effort into concentrating to dwell on the romantic connotations the situation held. Mostly. With Lance letting out a breathy “Now.” for the first few sequences each time it came for a spin, he fought to keep his face even. Lance steps out from him with a flourish, locking eyes with him before stepping back into his arms. Keith spared a glance down to their feet, watching as Lance slid across the ballroom as if he were floating on air.

 

Distantly Keith realized that they had to be near the end of the anthem as they spinned and stepped their way into the thick of a crowd in the middle of the ballroom. His intent was to hide them away from the kings gaze in the throng of dancers, but it appeared to him now that a majority of the party goers were watching them even more intently, eyes flicking to them with interest as they merged with the group. Lance shot him a look, glancing at the other dancers. The occupants in the circle appeared to be incorporating there own flashy moves into the traditional step-spin, leaving he and Lance looking painfully out of place. They danced with an ease that must come from years of dance experience, that clearly neither of the paladins possessed.

 

In trying to escape the kings gaze Keith had accidentally stepped them into a spotlight, and now they had an audience.

 

With a huff of determination he squeezed Lance’s waist in warning before he pulled their bodies flush together while desperately trying to stay on beat. He moved swiftly, wrapping an arm around Lance’s waist and lifting him into the air and turning before placing him back down quickly, trying to copy the move he had just seen one of the other dancers do. Lance let out a squeak of surprise as his feet leave the ground, planting both his hands firmly on Keiths shoulders in alarm, and Keith gives no reactions besides a slight eye roll.

 

“At least buy my dinner first, holy cow Keith!” Lance chuckled nervously but Keith was too busy studying the other dancers for ideas. Despite stumbling their way into the busier crowd of dancers, they were managing to keep up. Lance was right, Keith found it a lot easier to lead than to be shoved and pushed around the floor by a stranger. It may also help to have a different dance partner than some drunken chamberlain he had never met before.

 

Most of the pairs around them were forgoing the classic ‘1, 2, 3, spin’ patterns for increasingly complicated lifts, twirls, and flashy swoons to the crowds. Some of the pairs were breaking off with the group, dancing away to the less populated areas with their partner, while the song droned on from the live band in the corner.

 

Keith realized that now might be an appropriate time to exit the center of attention, but he could sense the end of the song approaching, and he had an idea. They did have a crowd of onlookers they were supposed to impress and Keith thinks they could pull off one last trick. Probably. Hopefully.

 

“Rain check on that dinner - Hold on to me.” Keith requested hurriedly, making eye contact with Lance and bracing a hand on his lower back. All the instruments in the band sung out building into an ending flourish.

 

“What?”

 

_“Now!”_

 

Lance didn’t need to be told twice. He scurried forwards, wrapping both his arms around Keith’s neck just before his weight slipped out from under him as he was dropped into a low dip. Keith held him there, eyes locked, their faces mere centimeters away from each other. Keith's bangs brushed against Lance’s forehead from where Keith hovered above him. But before Lance could even begin to process the scene, he was being pulled back upwards again, his chest pressed again Keith’s, who was blinking in surprise as if he only just registered how close they were now that they were standing.

 

The crowd broke into claps for the band, shocking them out of their stupor as they stepped back from one another. Keith let his hands drop immediately to his sides, searching for words before Lance cleared his throat abruptly.

 

“Well. You still need some work. A lot of work actually, but you kept up with all this, ” Lance gestured down at his body “-much better than I thought you would that’s for sure.”

 

Keith laughed breathlessly, scratching the back of his neck and shaking his head disbelievingly at his antics. Lance cocked an eyebrow at him and took in his appearance. His bangs were fanning over his face, having fallen out where he tied his hair back. He looked a little dumbstruck, and his cheeks were glowing a brilliant pink that Lance blamed on the heat of the ballroom. He reached up, popping the first button on his collar as he tugged at it and Lance’s followed his fingertips intently.

 

“That- that wasn’t a compliment you know!” Lance reminded him, his eyes darting up and he crossed his arms over his shirt in defiance.

 

“I know, I know!” Keith laughed again, softer this time and Lance shot him a smile.

 

They are informed later on, after the festivities have ended, just how enthralled the King was with their dancing. Allura was insanely proud that the King found their willingness to fit into their culture so seriously, and was pleased to announce that thanks to them the King wished to offer his full support to the coalition. Shiro was even more pleased to inform them that the circle they accidentally danced their way into was meant for dancers with more intimate partnerships. The additional flowery embellishments the other dancers were incorporating that they had worked so hard to copy were professions of passion and love. To onlookers, it was a display of their romantic union.

 

The King seemed to find this immensely charming. Apparently the chemistry he sensed was so strong he felt he had to inquire so far to ask if they were engaged.

 

And of course, being the brilliant older brother Shiro is, he panicked and said they were.

 

**Author's Note:**

> check out my tumblr at the-red-pillow.tumblr.com


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